New Delhi: A day after being appointed new Congress chief in Uttar Pradesh, Raj Babbar on Wednesday met party president Sonia Gandhi and her deputy Rahul Gandhi who told him to work unitedly as a team and consider the responsibility as a mission and not a challenge.
"Their message to me is to take this responsibility not as a challenge but as a mission. They told me to work as a united team and steer it to victory. We will move together as a team," he told reporters after meeting the top party leaders.
Entrusted with the big responsibility in the crucial state where Congress has been in political wilderness for more than 26 years that saw emergence of 'Mandal' and 'Mandir' issues and the rise of BSP, he said he will help strengthen the party.
"We will form the government and will reach out to everyone. Our main opposition is 'loot-tantra' and the people of Uttar Pradesh are great who know everything. "We believe that people of Uttar Pradsh will do a 'chamatkar' (miracle) and when they decide they will elect us with a bigger majority," he said.
Asked how he felt after being entrusted with the new responsibility, he said, "I am very happy and have got fresh energy to take Congress forward with everyone along. I will work together along with the team and not alone."
On Priyanka Gandhi's role in the state, he said she is a prominent member of an important family, which has given supreme sacrifices for the country. "Where Congress is today, it is due to the Gandhi family," he said.
Babbar said Congress is a family and a pillar that is everywhere and one cannot re-build it as it is there in every city, block and mohalla.
"Our fight is against corruption and the 'loot-trantra' in Uttar Pradesh. On one side, there are people who want to burn Uttar Pradesh, while on the other there are those who want to loot the state and divide it on caste lines. Our fight is against 'loot-tantra' and those who want to divide society," he said.
Asked if Congress had prepared a game-plan, he denied so and said, "We cannot go to society with a plan. There is no plan in politics."
He, however, skirted questions on whether they will align with other parties like BSP in Uttar Pradesh. Babbar was appointed yesterday, along with four senior vice presidents, including Imran Masood, who had courted controversy and was arrested with his hate speech against BJP's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi in 2014.
Reaching out to Dalits, Babbar lauded Kanshi Ram and referred to him as a "saint" and said Mayawati is "a respectable woman whom I respect a lot". "I have always called Kanshi Ram ji, a saint. I have great respect for Mayawati. She is my senior colleague in Rajya Sabha and I stand in her honour every time I meet her."
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